Israel F-16 jet shot down by Syrian fire, military says

An Israeli F-16 fighter jet crashed Saturday in northern Israel due to "massive anti-aircraft fire" from Syrian forces, according to the Israeli army. The incident was reported after an Israeli combat helicopter came in contact with an Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle that had been launched from Syria, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. Israeli forces also launched attacks on what they described as Iranian targets in Syria, the IDF said.Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman with the Israel Defense Forces said in a tweet that "Iran is responsible for this severe violation of Israeli sovereignty.

Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world. The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a “firewall” to block facial recognition

Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world. The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a “firewall” to block facial recognition

Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world.

The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a “firewall” to block facial recognition, the ubiquitous technology that can now unlock smartphones, tag friends on Facebook, or help police pick out an individual hiding in a crowd. The problem is that with facial recognition on the rise, hackers have a new target: huge reservoirs of profile pictures linked to personal information.

Syria 'repels' Israeli surveillance aircraft: state media

Syria on Wednesday repelled Israeli surveillance planes that breached its southern border, state media reported, days after an Israeli fighter jet was downed during raids on the war-torn country. "Syrian air defences have repelled Israeli surveillance planes over Quneitra, forcing them to leave Syrian airspace," the official SANA news agency said.On Saturday, the Syrian government said it fended off an Israeli raid on a military base in the centre of the country, hitting more than one warplane.

Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world. The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a “firewall” to block facial recognition

Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world. The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a “firewall” to block facial recognition

Companies around the world are spending big money to protect such databases before a stricter European law takes effect in May. Called the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), it gives people more control over their online information and applies to all groups that do business in Europe.

The idea for D-ID took shape a decade ago, when two of its founders took a trip to South America after serving in Israel’s special forces. Friends would post pictures online, but because of their previous jobs, they were forbidden from sharing pictures publicly in case they were recognized.

They began looking for a way for people to share pictures while protecting their identities and a year ago formed the company. The challenge was to foil facial recognition algorithms, which analyze a person’s face and match it to a stored digital image in the same way that crime scene fingerprints are run against a database.

<p>Israeli judges ruled on Sunday that a Jewish settler killed by a Palestinian with whom she was in a relationship was the victim of a political attack rather than a personal one.</p>Michal Halimi, 29, who was two months pregnant at the time of her death, went missing last May. Her body was discovered outside Tel Aviv in August, and Israeli police arrested Mohammed Harouf, a Palestinian.

Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world. The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a “firewall” to block facial recognition

Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world. The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a “firewall” to block facial recognition

“More and more organizations are using our faces as identifiers, if it’s to access our phones, to withdraw money or at border controls. That’s why our photos must be protected, because unlike passwords, you cannot change your face,” said Gil Perry, D-ID’s CEO.

Designers have created eyeglasses that reflect light to jam cameras and websites offer fashion and make-up tips for camouflaging your face, but in general little can be done to avoid being identified.

DIGITAL ALCHEMY

D-ID’s solution is a system of digital alchemy that subtly alters stored pictures, enough to escape detection by facial recognition algorithms. Side by side the changes are noticeable, but on its own the altered picture appears normal.

D-ID is planning a pilot with Cloudinary, a firm that manages 15 billion cloud-based images and videos for web and mobile developers. It has also signed preliminary agreements with a number of leading government organizations — Perry would not disclose which ones, nor how much the product will sell for.

Israel's Netanyahu says government coalition remains stable

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that his coalition government remained stable and would continue to govern despite police recommendations that he be indicted for bribery. "I want to reassure you, the coalition is stable. No one, not I, not anyone else, has plans to go to an election. We will continue to work with you for the good of Israel's citizens until the end of the term," Netanyahu said in a televised speech.The final decision to indict is not with the police, rather with Israel's Attorney General. His decision could take weeks or months.

Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world. The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a “firewall” to block facial recognition

Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world. The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a "firewall" to block facial recognition

The product launch is planned for the end of May, around the time the new European law takes effect. Yuval Elovici, who heads the cyber security research center at Israel’s Ben Gurion University, said there is now an “arms race” between groups developing facial recognition algorithms and those looking to confound them.

He said D-ID’s technology was an achievement and important for privacy, but that it did have its limitations.

“You cannot oblige everybody to use this technology and to publish pictures only after a transformation,” he said.

Tech startups are often located in high-rises of Tel Aviv’s financial district. D-ID’s second-floor office is secluded in an inconspicuous residential block, opposite a playground. It has raised $4 million, including from Israel’s Pitango Venture Capital and Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator, to support a team of 14 computer engineers.

There are drawbacks. For law enforcement agencies using the system it will be harder to locate a suspect. So D-ID is working on a solution that will allow such agencies to authenticate identities without storing biometric information, Perry said. How? He declined to elaborate.

Editing by Adrian Croft

Flu kills 10 more children, bringing toll to 63 kids as severe season continues .
In severe flu seasons like this one, the CDC estimates that up to 56,000 people, mostly older adults, die from complications. An additional 10 children have died of flu in the U.S., bringing the total to 63 in a harsh season that is still going strong, federal health officials said Friday. The flu was still widespread in 48 states and causing high levels of illness in 43 states in the week that ended Feb. 3, according to the latest update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world. The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a “firewall” to block facial recognition

Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world. The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a “firewall” to block facial recognition

Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world. The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a “firewall” to block facial recognition

Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world. The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a “firewall” to block facial recognition

Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world. The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a “firewall” to block facial recognition

Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world. The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a “firewall” to block facial recognition

Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world. The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a “firewall” to block facial recognition

Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face, stay anonymous in a hyper-connected world. The startup, called D-ID, says it has developed a "firewall" to block facial recognition

Breaking news. (photo credit: JPOST STAFF). TEL AVIV - Big brother is watching. But in the future he may no longer be so all-knowing. Riding the wave of a global push to comply with new privacy standards, a small Israeli company believes it can help you, and your face

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